News Releases

Education for Free or for Fee?

For Release Upon Receipt - March 2, 2010

St. Augustine

Education for Free or for Fee? This will be one of the several topics up for discussion when the West Indies Group of University Teachers (WIGUT St. Augustine) hosts a seminar on “Sustainable Funding of Higher Education in Challenging Times” this Thursday, March 4th, 2010 from 8.30am to 5.30pm at Daaga Hall Auditorium, UWI St. Augustine Campus. All stakeholders in higher education are invited.

According to WIGUT President, Dr Godfrey Steele, the WIGUT seminar will feature six panels exploring challenges faced in funding higher education. Presenters will examine a range of practical issues, such as traditional and entrepreneurial approaches and models in higher education, quality assurance and return on investment, funding models and case applications in higher education, and cost-cutting and workload issues. These issues have national, regional and global significance.

Over the last six decades, The University of the West Indies (UWI) has evolved from a fledgling college in Jamaica with 33 students to a full-fledged University with over 40,000 students. Today, UWI is the largest and most longstanding higher education provider in the English-speaking Caribbean, with main campuses in Barbados, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago, and Centres in Anguilla, Antigua & Barbuda, The Bahamas, Belize, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Montserrat, St Christopher (St Kitts) & Nevis, St Lucia, and St Vincent & the Grenadines. UWI recently launched its Open Campus, a virtual campus with over 50 physical site locations across the region, serving over 20 countries in the English-speaking Caribbean. UWI is an international university with faculty and students from over 40 countries and collaborative links with over 60 universities around the world. Through its seven Faculties, UWI offers undergraduate and postgraduate degree options in Engineering, Humanities & Education, Law, Medical Sciences, Pure & Applied Sciences, Science and Agriculture, and Social Sciences.